BRASELTON - Barbara Lane Wilson, 74, passed away Tuesday, July 17, 2018. She loved crocheting, music - especially gospel and country, the Food Channel, her dog "Jenny" and shopping. She loved to color, loved seeing her family come visit, and she loved her grand-dog Bella. Mrs. Wilson was preceded in death by her husband, James Wilson; son, ...
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PENDERGRASS - Nancy Patricia Groves, 65, passed away on July 15, 2018. Mrs. Groves was born in Winder, the daughter of the late Aurthur and Mattie Lou Iler Lee. She was a homemaker and attended the Academy Baptist Church in Jefferson. Mrs. Groves was preceded in death by her sister, Carol Satterfield; and her brothers, Bobby Lee and Brad Lee. ...
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COMMERCE - Ronald L. Caplinger, 72, passed away on Sunday, July 15, 2018, following a brief illness. Mr. Caplinger was born on August 29, 1945, in Springfield, Ohio and lived in South Vienna, Ohio. He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Lawrence "Cappy" and Martha Caplinger; sister, Linda Combs; brother, Charles Caplinger; and ...
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It is a sad reality today that the Supreme Court and lower courts, instead of the truly independent check on the other branches of government they were designed to be, have become a highly-politicized extension of a broken and dysfunctional legislative branch.
As the New York Times editorial board wrote last weekend, “…the notion of jurists as unbiased umpires in robes has become, for now, dangerously naïve.”
The Supreme Court has become a renewed subject of intense focus following Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement announcement late last month and President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh on Monday to replace him. Compared to the Court’s other eight justices, Kennedy has been regarded as a more-or-less moderate swing vote depending on the issue. Now, with Republicans controlling the White House and the Senate, and the filibuster option gone, conservatives have been salivating and liberals have been despairing at Trump’s near slam-dunk opportunity to reshape the Court for years to come.
Several Democratic senators have responded to the latest Court opening by calling for no nominee to be considered until after the midterm elections are held. This is in response to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s nakedly political stunt in 2016 when he refused to hold hearings on Merrick Garland, who then-President Obama nominated in March of that year following Antonin Scalia’s death the previous month.
McConnell’s reasoning was that it was a presidential election year and that the American people — and the next president, not the “lame duck” president — should have a say in the next justice. He invoked the so-called “Biden rule” of not considering Supreme Court nominees during presidential election years.
But beside the fact that 14 presidents have appointed 21 justices during presidential election years and six true “lame duck” presidents filled seats between their successors’ elections and the end of their terms, McConnell and other Republicans have misrepresented then-Sen. Joe Biden’s remarks. Biden, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman at the time, made his speech in 1992 when there was no vacancy on the Court, and if a vacancy had come up that year, he was not opposed to hearings being held after the election and before the new president took office.
Moreover, Biden presided over Judiciary Committee hearings in December 1987 for Kennedy, a Republican president’s nominee, who was confirmed 97-0 by a Democratic-controlled Senate in February of 1988, a presidential election year.
McConnell’s claim that he’s upholding some custom should be an insult to every American’s intelligence. He either couldn’t or didn’t bother to hide his shameless grin at his press conference following Kennedy’s retirement announcement and has refused to commit to taking the same approach he did in 2016 if Republicans still control the Senate in 2020 (a presidential election year) and another vacancy arises. Even Sen. Charles Grassley, who now chairs the Judiciary Committee and claims he would follow “the Biden rule,” has acknowledged that McConnell and Trump almost certainly won’t.
While it’s true McConnell’s reasoning would make the current Senate even more of a “lame-duck” than Obama was — as this nomination is occurring much closer to an election which would have an impact on the nominee’s chances of confirmation — the Democrats’ calls for a delay are an enormous waste of time. Regardless of McConnell’s blatant and ultimately successful attempt to “steal” a seat, Trump’s nominee deserves hearings and an up-or-down vote. The chances of the Republican-controlled Senate holding off on confirmation hearings until after November, or only considering Garland (as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer laughably suggested), or holding until Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is completed, is about as likely as Trump and Maxine Waters going on a Caribbean paradise vacation together, Winder’s downtown traffic congestion being resolved this week or me switching my sports fandom allegiance to Georgia Tech.
Not going to happen.
What Democratic senators can do is grow a backbone, ask tough questions of Kavanaugh and refuse to let him off the hook if they find him troubling. While they would need at least two Republican senators to join them, they could make sure they are united in opposition if they see an issue with the nominee. To those Democratic senators in red states who are in tough re-election battles: If you have a problem with the nominee, vote your conscience regardless of how you think it impacts your re-election chances. The Republicans won’t give up on trying to take your seat just because you voted for Trump’s nominee.
And most of all, instead of fruitless appeals for a delay, Democrats should focus on getting their voters to the polls and making the courts a central election issue.
Republicans, and particularly the hardcore conservative ones, have a solid grip on the importance of the courts. For all the complaining about Garland’s treatment, the Democratic presidential candidates essentially punted the issue in 2016. Right in line with repealing Obamacare and building “the wall,” the Republicans made the courts almost a life-and-death matter — none more loudly than Sen. Ted Cruz.
In February 2016, the day after Scalia’s death and the weekend before the South Carolina GOP primary, I covered a Cruz campaign appearance for my newspaper at a church in Port Royal.
Scalia’s “passing means the Court is in the balance,” Cruz said that day. “We are one justice away from a radical left-wing Court, the likes of which this country has never seen.
“We are one liberal justice away from a Supreme Court that mandates unlimited abortion on demand across this country, including partial-birth abortion, with taxpayer funding and no parental notification.”
Cruz also called the court’s decision in June 2015 that legalized gay marriage in all 50 states “fundamentally illegitimate,” and said that if a liberal justice had replaced Scalia, the right to bear arms would “essentially be written out of the Constitution.”
None of that was or is remotely true, but fear is a powerful motivator. Cruz did not win the nomination, but Trump did and his transgressions in his personal life did not affect evangelicals’ and social conservatives’ assurances that he would appoint hardline conservatives to the bench if elected. That commitment helped turn out social conservatives at the polls and put Trump in a position where he could win.
Though Cruz and other candidates hyperbolically spoke of a “culture war,” they understood the importance of the courts as a crucial election issue. I also covered a Bernie Sanders campaign stop and a Bill Clinton (standing in for Hillary) appearance. Not once was the Supreme Court mentioned.
Needless to say, Trump won the election and the Republicans held onto the Senate.
Neil Gorsuch was nominated and confirmed after Democrats attempted to filibuster and McConnell invoked the “nuclear option.”
According to a recent analysis, in the Court’s most recent term there were 18 cases decided by a 5-4 vote. Gorsuch cast a decisive vote in 15 of those, siding 14 times with the other conservative justices. Now the chip-shot field goal opening is there for another Gorsuch to be confirmed.
Russian interference aside, elections matter and issues like the courts matter.
If Democrats and progressives don’t like this new direction, they better start acting like it.
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Scott Thompson is editor of the Barrow News-Journal. He can be reached at sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com.

There is still some unfinished business in the Republican primary but this year’s general election battle for governor could end up being extremely competitive.
That fact remains true whether Casey Cagle or Brian Kemp ultimately win the GOP nomination. Early voting for that runoff (and a handful of other statewide races) began last week with the main attraction being that race at the top of the ticket. Republican voters are also deciding between runoff candidates for lieutenant governor and secretary of state while Democratic Party voters are taking care of some unfinished business in the contest for state school superintendent.
The Cagle-Kemp battle has become very tight in recent days. One poll shows the two tied while another shows Kemp, the current secretary of state, even slightly ahead.
While Cagle, the current lieutenant governor, finished first in the May primary he did not gain the necessary percentage to avoid a runoff and is now in the fight for his political career. His once impressive lead has all but vanished.
The runoff has turned negative although most of what is being highlighted (lowlighted) about both candidates is factual. Turnout will be the key as the overall number of registered voters who actually go back and vote will be small (even less than the disappointing total from May).
Regardless of who wins, it’s a safe bet to say that 99 percent of GOP voters will vote for the ultimate nominee. Loyalty to political parties is very large right now and that will certainly be the case here. No one can truthfully believe that a disgruntled Kemp or Cagle supporter would vote for Democrat Stacey Abrams in November. There could be a few who decide to vote for Libertarian Ted Metz, but not many.
In fact, the few percentage points the Libertarian picks up in the general election race for governor could end up being the difference. Most assume that Libertarians only draw votes from the Republican candidate but in reality that is not true.
Libertarians are actually a mix between Republicans (fiscal issues, gun rights, etc.) and Democrats (personal freedom) on the issues.
A fellow Libertarian once told me, “Republicans are right about some issues but they don’t go far enough. Democrats are right on some issues but they fail to support those issues the way they truly should.”
Meanwhile, Abrams has state Democratic leaders excited. They believe she could pull an upset and be the next governor. While the race certainly has the potential to be close (in the 55-45 percent range), it doesn’t seem likely that the demographics in Georgia have moved enough for it to happen.
It’s not that Republicans should take the race for granted. Any favored candidate (or political party in this case) should always campaign as if he or she were 20 points behind. The state of Georgia had some surprising vote totals from the 2016 presidential election.
While Donald Trump won Georgia and its electoral votes, there were certain areas of the state where Hillary Clinton actually did far better than any political observer would have predicted.
The challenge for Abrams will be to energize not only her base but those who may not typically pay much attention to statewide politics. An upset is possible here (actually more possible than Sonny Perdue’s defeat of Roy Barnes) and Abrams’ somewhat surprisingly easy primary victory against a solid challenger shows Democratic voters believe she is the perfect candidate to end the GOP domination of the state.
But we need to take first things first in the race for governor. The Cagle-Kemp runoff is a toss-up. Abrams is already off and running on her general election campaign and Metz is hoping to get a mention in the news about his campaign.
We’ll no doubt see a flood of money poured into our governor’s race from outside groups (all except for Metz). Also, get ready for some nasty commercials pointing out the negative of both the GOP and Democratic candidates.
This is something that will be fun to watch in some ways and stomach-turning in others.
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Winder resident Chris Bridges is a former editor of the Barrow News-Journal. You can send comments about this column to pchrisbridges@gmail.com.

“If you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart. If you are not a conservative at 35, you have no brain.”
I read that saying — which is attributed in various forms to lots of folks through history — when I was about 25. I was a contrarian then, as I am now.
In my late teen years, I tended toward the radical thoughts of the day — mostly because of antipathy to the Vietnam War and the related cause of not being able to vote (but shoot a gun to kill people) in presidential elections.
One major factor in my thinking was a general support for people who opposed the status quo. In those days, that included the war, open sexuality (it was the ’60s) and street protests. I thought Abbie Hoffman and Daniel Berrigan (those might be names from the dim past for those as old as I am. For the rest of you, look it up. Learn some history.) were sort of cool and made a lot of sense.
Alas, I am much like others. I see a bit more conservatism in my views now.
I have noticed in my dotage more moderation. Youth tends more toward radical thought — more black and white, less room for shades of gray.
I have an appreciation for the Founding Fathers. But unlike some who are certain those men would side with them, I value them for their bitter and unyielding fights — and the radical compromises they adopted to reach the ultimate goal, a union of states.
Two compromises I wish they had resolved in some other fashion: the notion that a human being counts as three-fifths of a person in the case of slaves for the U.S. Census and the Electoral College, to ensure that small states have a say in selecting the president.
Despite our egalitarian impulses, the Founders of the country ranged from suspicion of, to bitter hostility toward, the “common man.” I still hear echoes in that when property owners and business people say they should be allowed to vote where they do not live, usually in municipal elections, because of their business and/or financial interests.
In today’s echo chambers for political debate, I long for people who will be radical moderates.
From local city councils to Congress, from mayors and boards of commissioners chairmen to presidents, we need people who seek to strike a balance, to reach a compromise.
In the world of Donald Trump and Maxine Waters (they did not create our current mess), we are prone to wild comments.
Example number one is the two Republican contenders for governor, Casey Cagle and Brian Kemp. I have a slight acquaintance with both men — before they became raving lunatics.
Both were moderate, pragmatic businesspeople. That was how they saw themselves. They sought government that worked and was smaller. They wanted to know how government was structured and what made sense and what did not.
Now, they seem to race to make the least sense and adopt the most outlandish nonsense as core beliefs. They should check into a psychiatric ward before either becomes governor.
A couple of years ago, I could have voted for either. I admit to a leaning to Cagle because he was more closely identified with public education. Now, neither man is qualified to lead the state.
Reach back with me into history again. Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford were from opposing parties. Both were presidents because of the times, not their philosophies. Both were decent human beings and they represented that in their public lives and public statements.
I’d be relatively content with either today as president. Both were denigrated as “weak.” That was long before the puny non-thinker we have in that office today. Either was a giant compared to him.
Finally, we reach Congress. We have two leaders — Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan — who have no interest in, or desire to, be leaders.
McConnell appears to be a power-hungry, win-at-all-costs caricature. Ryan is a jellyfish, completely lacking in moral beliefs or spine.
Where, I wonder, are the Howard Bakers, Sam Nunns, Everett Dirksons ($1 billion here and $1 billion there and soon we’re talking real money) and George Mitchells?
Now I see the street protests and wonder what’s the point? I hear the 28-year-old from a New York burough talk about Medicare for all. I’m for it. How do we pay for it? Where are the leaders who will talk about that — and offer solutions? Where are the leaders who will talk about immigration and grapple with families, security, cost and brain power?
Where are the leaders who value history — of their world and of others?
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Ron Bridgeman is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers. He can be reached at ron@mainstreetnews.com.

The left still doesn’t get it.
For them, the 2016 presidential election was stolen.
It doesn’t matter that the Electoral College has been at work, and worked successfully, for more than 200 years in choosing American presidents.
While Democrats, like Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, gnash their teeth, lay awake at night and stew over losing the 2016 election, they fail to admit what really beat them.
The presidential election loss can be summed up in three words: Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unfortunately, the left can’t accept the fact that their own candidate cost them the seat.
Nor can they accept the fact the Democrats rigged their own primary to keep Bernie Sanders from getting the nomination.
The Dems have blamed the Russians, the Republicans, blamed the polls, recruited “Stormy,” activated the “Deep State,” blamed the Second Amendment, the First Amendment and everything else they are out of tune with.
The blame game didn’t work so they turned to the immigration issue and have used the media to present the Republicans and the president in a negative manner, even though the president and his staff have simply been enforcing American immigration policy.
And now they have resorted to bullying. They are unhinged and are preaching uncontrolled hate and rage.
Businesses leaning to the left can’t refuse services to people based on race or creed but they can and are refusing to serve people based on one’s political standing.
Several members of the Trump administration have been harassed while out in public restaurants and even at their personal residences.
Large financial institutions are refusing to allow firearms dealers to use their financial services; even small “Mom and Pop” businesses find themselves on the short end.
Protestors in Portland, Ore. recently took down an American flag and raised a refugee flag.
Organized groups are spreading lawlessness across the United States but the media seems to simply ignore the mobs unless someone gets a good video clip that can be shown in a derogatory manner, even though the reporting is not what actually happened.
Antifa style mobs are constantly interfering with the daily operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and have called for the dismantling of the agency.
California Congresswoman Maxine Waters continues to stir the pot and publicly called for the left to harass and protest against members of the administration of President Donald Trump at stores, restaurants and gas stations.
The left, which doesn’t include all Democrats, many of which are shocked by the current party’s tactics, just won’t accept the fact that the American people elected Donald Trump president.
Here’s a reminder as to why conservatives stood up and spoke out at the ballot box.
You (the left) attacked our freedom of speech, our right to own and carry firearms and our American way of life.
You called us deplorable, a term we are proudly claiming.
You created mobs, ambushed and assassinated law enforcement officers; you forced us to change our insurance plans, and you told us our economy was dead and would never come back.
You added trillions to our national debt and left our military commanders in combat zones with their hands tied. You allowed Americans to die at Benghazi.
You sent a representative out into the world who bowed to a king, which we don’t take to very kindly, and you sent billions of dollars in cash to Iran and allowed them to keep their nuclear program.
That same representative basically said he was ashamed of our flag, sealed his college records and birth certificate (we have no idea where he was born), and he wasted millions of our taxpayer dollars on vacations and golf outings that most Americans can’t even dream about getting.
Your candidate sold American uranium to the Russians, accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from foreign governments, and used a private server in a small bathroom to conduct sensitive government business.
In a recent email attributed to Paul Genova, COO at Wireless Telecom Group Inc, Genova summed up the conservative response pretty well.
Genova said, “…we became fed up,…pushed back and spoke up…we did it with ballots, not bullets. With ballots, not riots. With ballots, not looting. With ballots, not blocking traffic. With ballots, not fires, except the one you started inside of us.”
It’s time to stop the lawlessness, the hate spewing rhetoric, the intimidation and the violent riots.
Enough is enough!
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Jimmy Terrell is retired from a career in law enforcement and is a Winder city councilman. He can be reached at ejterrel65@gmail.com.

It feels as though we just finished turning tassels here in Barrow County, and summer seems barely underway.
Everyone is busy with vacation plans, church and sports camps, Vacation Bible School, and so many other summertime traditions. Others are bored out of their skulls and complain of nothing to do. I can’t even imagine that! The word “bored” doesn’t exist in my vocabulary! There are always things to do. And if I absolutely have nothing to do, I can always take a nap! I’ve just never understood how anyone can ever be bored!
Even though it feels like summer just started, the reality is, if you have kids in school, work at a school, or have anything whatsoever to do with school, summer is pretty much over! Teachers, coaches, staff and students are preparing for the start of a new year. For some, preparation for the upcoming year began this past spring. Band kids reported to school one Saturday in May for uniform fittings, and the band booster officers and student leadership kids have worked throughout the summer to facilitate a smooth transition into the 2018 marching season.
This week was the official beginning of marching season. While the regular student body reports to school on Aug. 1, band kids reported on July 9 for pre-camp. Full-on camp begins on July 16, with everyone reporting. The dedicated adult leaders reminded them all summer to keep themselves heat conditioned and to practice staying well hydrated so that these first few days in the hot Georgia sun would be more tolerable.
As with most anything “new,” the first day or so will be lots of fun for the students, and then reality will set in. Learning new music and new drill will become their focus, and the true colors of their dedication will be seen. Why in the world would a teenager want to stand in the middle of a hot asphalt parking lot for hours on end, learning to do a drill that they will likely never even get to see? Maybe mom and dad, or grandma will get the halftime show on video, but I’d be willing to bet most of these kids never even see, from a spectator’s point of view, the amazing results of all their work.
Instead, they see the back of the hat of the kid in front of them, and they hope and pray the kid behind them is out of the way when they have to blindly march backwards. The reason is the feeling of accomplishment and pride each student feels when marching onto the field at the first game, steps in perfect unison with the cadence when marching into the stadium, the feeling of camaraderie as they kneel to respectfully watch the other band’s halftime show.
Watching and supporting the football team with stand music, supporting the cheerleaders’ dance routines, and working together as a whole to represent our school.
These are a few of the reasons that band kids are willing to work for hours in the brutal heat, and to spend so many afterschool hours practicing when they could be sitting at home in the air conditioning playing video games or snapchatting their friends. The work is hard, but if you watch their faces while they’re playing in the stands, or marching into the stadium, you know there’s no place they’d rather be.
Being a band kid is a lot of hard work. The work doesn’t stop after camp — oh, no, it is just beginning. For three days a week, every week, until marching season is over, they are out there after school, in an unrelenting effort to improve the show, to make it a little better than last week.
For the upcoming rookies, it’s usually a rude awakening! Far different from anything they’ve experienced in middle school band, this is The Big Time! It won’t be long before they are feeling the moment, and begin to understand Bulldogg Pride.
They will learn the routines and become a member of the family. They will learn to stand at attention and answer the call of their drum major at each practice, before each game and other appropriate moments.
It always gives me goose bumps when I hear the drum major call, and the band respond back: “How are the feet?”
“Together!
“How is the stomach?”
“In!”
“How is the chest?”
“Out!”
“How are the shoulders?”
“Up, back, down!”
“How is the chin?”
“Up!”
“How are the eyes?”
“With Pride!”
“Eyes?”
“With Pride!”
“Eyes?”
“With Pride!”
We are looking forward to another spectacular year with band and can’t wait to see the new show! Do your best to take in a game, especially if you have kids at WBHS or AHS. Our kids need to know we support them and appreciate all the dedication they put into the program.
Good luck, Mr. Pharr, students, and all those who work diligently to make it happen. We’ll be watching — our eyes filled with pride!
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Cathy Watkins Bennett is a Barrow County native and a graduate of Winder-Barrow High School. Send comments about this column to
bencath@aol.com.